Big events for each month of the last year - yep, that's right, I go a months without saying anything and then post a novella:
January: Got fired six days into the year. With this auspicious beginning, DH and I both start looking for work.
February: No one has found a job yet. Despite the financial stress and mounting credit card bills, the whole family seems to be generally doing better than 2008 (when we were dealing with many health issues and family struggles, and the girls were not getting the parental attention they needed).
March: Our credit card debt grows and our bank account empties completely. I find a year-long contract position and start March 15th. DH keeps watching the girls and looking for work. The UI check for all my UI payments for the last 2.5 months arrives one week after my first paycheck, just in time to pay for the mortgage for April.
April: Birthday celebrations for all! Grandparents are very generous to our daughters. There's also an anniversary in there, but as usual, no one makes a big fuss about it. DH keeps applying for jobs, and has it down to a fine art. He applies to 3 or 4 jobs a day when they are available, and does this in about 2 to 3 hours a day.
May: We have an unplanned pregnancy, as expected. The only surprise is that it took so long to happen. Although we are both quite worried about how we'll manage the birth in this economy, there is also a subtle resurgence of hope and motivation that our family sorely needed.
June: Stupid car keeps breaking down. I garden when I'm not working.
July: Not only does the stupid car keep breaking down, it's going to need a $2,400 repair in 6 months. We decide it's worth adding to our huge pile of debt to get a new car using Cash for Clunkers. We mitigate our embarressment over having a new car (and the accompanying debt) by getting the vehicle with the lowest Total Cost to Own that we can find, which turns out to be a Honda Fit and quite possibly the car we would have bought anyways if we'd had money. The girls promptly name "her" Bluea.
August: Outdoors projects! A new firepit, one fish pond turns into a sandbox, the garden grows and we eat lots of fresh snow peas. Blueberries come to adorn our front yard. DH starts getting rejection notices occasionally, and we both find this immensely encouraging and take it as a sign that the economy is improving.
September: I realize we're two weeks behind on our mortgage, and try budgeting with Mint.com, which is a really neat service. DH starts getting scheduled for phone interviews that then get cancelled because the job filled before anyone actually interviewed him. My sister gives us a free car that she'd located for us back when we were having car troubles.
October: It's a girl! I make a spreadsheet of all our expected income and predictable expenses through the end of the year, in addition to the budget at Mint.com. DH starts actually getting interviews in person and on the phone, rather than just scheduling and cancelling interviews. The girls have to use last year's Halloween costumes, but still have a great time trick-or-treating with the grandparents.
November: I start putting effort into stocking the freezer so we have food when the baby arrives. DH and I finally agree on a name for the baby. DH gets a job offer for a seasonal tax software support position, and accepts it. I get a holiday bonus for Thanksgiving. We come home from a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with the step-family in-laws with butternut squash and an excellent bottle of home-made wine.
December: During a cold snap while we can't afford to heat the house, the shower drain freezes solid for about a week. The girls get excited about Christmas despite the lack of decor. I get extra hours at work plus holiday pay, but then lose some money when the family gets sick. We still have enough money to buy work clothes for DH and a few gifts and much needed things. We go to the San Juan Islands to visit the in-laws for Christmas, and a gloriously relaxing time is had by all. DH starts his job the last week of the year, and I start working from home on a schedule that is flexible enough that I can also care for the children. It's a little crazy, but works well enough.
And, looking forward to early 2010, here is what we expect to have happen:
January: DH continues to work while I care for the children and work from home. The baby is due January 22nd, which means 95% chance of being born between January 8th and February 5th. My family tends to run late, so bet on early February. I won't be taking maternity leave at all unless I absolutely physically must. The laptop comes to the hospital with me, and I could conceivably return to my work before I return to my home. DH will probably take a day or two of unpaid sick time to be with me until I leave the hospital.
February: DH could lose his job this month, but I'm guessing he won't. So this month will probably be him working full-time in the office and doing all the housework and cooking (he'll have a good freezer stash to work with) while I work full-time from home and care for the children - including the baby, who will essentially live on the nursing pillow while I work. I suspect I'm going to need some help, especially immediately after the birth.
March: DH could lose his job this month, and it's actually pretty likely that he will. I will definitely lose my job this month, as my contract ends March 15th. I'm supposed to be in the office to train my replacement from March 1st to March 15th. If DH is still working, we will need childcare during that time. I have no idea who or how that will work. Once the contract ends, I will get UI. We shouls also have a $1,000 emergency fund and may have some additional savings. There is a small chance that our mortgage payment might be reduced by $1,000 a month permanently starting about now if our application last October for a Home Mortgage Loan Modification finally goes through, but we aren't counting on it.
April: If DH hasn't lost his job yet, it will end by the 15th of this month. If he does get this far without being laid off, he might get UI. It won't be much, but every little bit helps. Either way, he's going to be looking for any work he can get to keep us from going broke, so I can focus on getting the best job I can. I don't want to end my "UI-paid maternity leave" for anything less than enough to cover our expenses and get us out of debt pretty quickly, too.
May: Our emergency fund and my UI will keep us in the black through this month even if DH's job ends back in March or earlier and even if we put all his income to paying off our credit cards. However, we'll need some additional income between March 15th and the end of May to make it through June in the black. We are pretty optimistic about being able to manage this.
Looking beyond May gets pretty hazy . . . things could end up being really messy financially, in the worst case, which could result in rough times for the whole family. Things could end up being really great, in the best case. So much depends on us finding jobs, and maybe even finding good jobs, and we only have so much control over that. However, I can say that baby Audrey will probably say her first word in 2010, and might even take her first steps near the end of the year. The twins will continue to grow up, and by December they will be 4 years 9 months old. We'll need to start deciding if we will put them into a public school kindergarten in September of 2011 or not. And, of course, we'll be in God's hands no matter what happens, and we will have each other (barring tragedy). There are some things that just don't depend on finances, and I would be a fool not to consider them worth mentioning.
Showing posts with label finances. Show all posts
Showing posts with label finances. Show all posts
Friday, January 1, 2010
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Home Loan Modification is still possible!
We applied for a "Making Homes Affordable" home loan modification last June. This is the program where they will give you an obscenely low interest rate and stretch the term of your mortgage loan in order to bring your payments down to 38% of your income, if you meet certain qualifications like at least a 10% decrease in income during the last year. It's designed to keep people from going into foreclosure because of the economy affecting both income and the value of their homes.
Today I called about trying to avoid a late fee and get back on track with our mortgage payments. Tons of car repairs and missed work in the last few months caused us to eat through our emergency budget and then fall behind on mortgage payments. While we were talking, he asked about this program and I said that we applied, but never heard back and that it sounded like our situation was too bad to qualify. He assured me that this didn't make sense, took a look at our file, and found that they had made some mistakes about the requirements and never notified us that we needed to send some more paperwork before our case could be reviewed!
To be reviewed properly for the Home Modification, we need to gather some documents and fax them. Getting the modification will have the following effects for us:
(1) Our mortgage payment will be decreased by about $1K per month
(2) We will pay far less interest over the lifetime of our loan
(3) The length of our loan will likely be extended somewhat (assuming we don't pay ahead)
(4) Our credit score will be damaged (I guess we'd better get debt-free so that doesn't matter!)
(5) We will need to attend debt counseling, which we can probably get for free from the HUD. It will be a bit of a hassle to arrange and attend, but it's a sensible requirement and we'll undoubtedly be able to make good use of the counseling time.
(6) Our "realistic worst case" scenario goes from missing 2 to 3 housing payments over the next year (when my contract ends and I can't work at MS for 100 days) to being able to save ahead so that we have what we need to at least break even during that period. The "realistic worst case" scenario, BTW, is that I finish my contract and DH still isn't working, I get unemployment for 100 days without finding another job, and then return to my old job at the same pay. This is what we assume the future will look like when planning and budgeting. Odds are that things will actually work out better than this, but we aren't counting on it.
So the Home Loan Modification isn't without a downside, but it's a very useful tool for where we are right now.
Today I called about trying to avoid a late fee and get back on track with our mortgage payments. Tons of car repairs and missed work in the last few months caused us to eat through our emergency budget and then fall behind on mortgage payments. While we were talking, he asked about this program and I said that we applied, but never heard back and that it sounded like our situation was too bad to qualify. He assured me that this didn't make sense, took a look at our file, and found that they had made some mistakes about the requirements and never notified us that we needed to send some more paperwork before our case could be reviewed!
To be reviewed properly for the Home Modification, we need to gather some documents and fax them. Getting the modification will have the following effects for us:
(1) Our mortgage payment will be decreased by about $1K per month
(2) We will pay far less interest over the lifetime of our loan
(3) The length of our loan will likely be extended somewhat (assuming we don't pay ahead)
(4) Our credit score will be damaged (I guess we'd better get debt-free so that doesn't matter!)
(5) We will need to attend debt counseling, which we can probably get for free from the HUD. It will be a bit of a hassle to arrange and attend, but it's a sensible requirement and we'll undoubtedly be able to make good use of the counseling time.
(6) Our "realistic worst case" scenario goes from missing 2 to 3 housing payments over the next year (when my contract ends and I can't work at MS for 100 days) to being able to save ahead so that we have what we need to at least break even during that period. The "realistic worst case" scenario, BTW, is that I finish my contract and DH still isn't working, I get unemployment for 100 days without finding another job, and then return to my old job at the same pay. This is what we assume the future will look like when planning and budgeting. Odds are that things will actually work out better than this, but we aren't counting on it.
So the Home Loan Modification isn't without a downside, but it's a very useful tool for where we are right now.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Jobs - wouldn't it be great?
It's no secret I want to work less and stay home more. DH likes this idea too, except for the reality that we haven't yet figured out a realistic way to afford it.
I'm wondering more and more if we could possibly pull off something clever with contract work long-term, so that I spend 6 months at home and DH spends 3 months at home each year, with 3 months where we both work and the children are in care - sort of a reverse-summer-break.
This would actually work as a two-year cycle to maximize the time DH and I can spend at each job. In other words, DH would work for 18 months straight and I would work for 1 year straight, with three months of overlap at each end.
A plan like this has a number of hang-ups, and I've already thought of probably 90% of them and come up with decent solutions for most that I've thought of, with ease. However, there is one thing that absolutely must be in place before we deliberately attempt this, something that I am less sure how to handle:
Debt-free with three to six months expenses in the bank.
This is where this plan gets tough. A plan like the one I described has significant financial risk every three to six months, and we MUST have some buffer space! To get this, DH and I will need to work simultaneously for roughly two years netting $20K per year above our non-debt expenses before we can even start (obviously, we're not including mortgage debt here!). There are other ideas, but none that we can count on (e.g., start a business netting $20 to 30 K a year; have one of us work nights consistently; and so on). Even having us both work has a number of variables we can't control, like that DH has been looking for work for 8 months with no luck already and that childcare could eat through his income if hours don't work out.
Could we handle it? Is it worth it to put our kids in childcare for two years? Is there another way to get these $$?
I'm wondering more and more if we could possibly pull off something clever with contract work long-term, so that I spend 6 months at home and DH spends 3 months at home each year, with 3 months where we both work and the children are in care - sort of a reverse-summer-break.
This would actually work as a two-year cycle to maximize the time DH and I can spend at each job. In other words, DH would work for 18 months straight and I would work for 1 year straight, with three months of overlap at each end.
A plan like this has a number of hang-ups, and I've already thought of probably 90% of them and come up with decent solutions for most that I've thought of, with ease. However, there is one thing that absolutely must be in place before we deliberately attempt this, something that I am less sure how to handle:
Debt-free with three to six months expenses in the bank.
This is where this plan gets tough. A plan like the one I described has significant financial risk every three to six months, and we MUST have some buffer space! To get this, DH and I will need to work simultaneously for roughly two years netting $20K per year above our non-debt expenses before we can even start (obviously, we're not including mortgage debt here!). There are other ideas, but none that we can count on (e.g., start a business netting $20 to 30 K a year; have one of us work nights consistently; and so on). Even having us both work has a number of variables we can't control, like that DH has been looking for work for 8 months with no luck already and that childcare could eat through his income if hours don't work out.
Could we handle it? Is it worth it to put our kids in childcare for two years? Is there another way to get these $$?
Monday, July 6, 2009
Baby!
Okay, I haven't gotten around to blogging about our new family member yet, and the first trimester is already almost over! Our baby's birth is expected in early February. The due date is January 22nd, but my family has a "tradition" of staying pregnant until at least 42 weeks, when they are induced or schedule a surgery.
Unfortunately, the Evergreen midwives (whom I received prenatal care from with my twins, until the cord was discovered to be presenting and I needed a C-section) are not an option for the birth. I will be attempting a VBAC, and the Evergreen midwives have a policy of scheduling a C-section for 41 weeks if you don't go into labor first as a VBAC. There's no good medical reason - they do it to avoid liability risks.
I'm trying to transfer my care to Dr. Dana Blackham, who really impressed me during our meet-and-greet with his transparency, knowledge, and interest in my input. Plus, his "late baby VBAC policy" allows for going to 43 weeks or even slightly later with regular ultrasounds and stress tests after 42 weeks (to detect post-maturity syndrome, I presume). Since a late baby is normal in my family, this was a good sign. He also didn't freak out about the idea of a VBAC with a 9-pound baby - and large babies are another family tradition, large even for late babies by a good half pound.
I also need to find a doula, which I haven't yet put much work into. I'd like to find someone who can not only support me & DH in the normal ways, by suggesting ways to cope with labor, but who can also support my faith. I want very much for my birth to be a chance for spiritual growth rather than just a situation to be endured. I don't know how realistic that is, having never been in labor, and I might be naive about being able to gain strength from prayer while, say, going through the transition phase - but I also know that when I get a strong "gut feeling" like this, it's usually worth checking out and putting some effort into. I don't object at all to people laughing at me if I throw the Rosary beads at the doula and beg for an epidural when push comes to shove . . . so to speak.
The girls are excited about the baby, although I think the idea is still a bit abstract for them. They know the baby will be here about one month after Christmas, so they get that there is a wait involved. We'll probably make a "baby advent calendar" from Christmas until a few weeks after the due date, to help them understand the timeline.
DH is also starting to show some signs of excitement, which is a big step. This baby wasn't exactly a surprise, but wasn't exactly planned either. I've been wanting to get pregnant again for about a year and a half, so I had few problems adjusting when our lazy attempts at avoiding pregnancy "failed". DH is in a different position, though. I will say that we both relaxed a lot once we learned that there was only one baby to prepare for, as twins would have devastating implications for our budget. It's not that babies are expensive (they aren't), but twin pregnancy and birth would highly impact my ability to earn an income. Our expenses can't go much lower than they are, since we are upside-down on our mortgage and can't sell the house. We could trim off maybe another $30 a month if we invested several hours a week, but at that point we're better off making sure I stay healthy and don't miss work with that time. It's just a better investment to keep me from missing a day and losing $200+ in income.
I need to write another post about car-buying, and another post about the cool home-improvement stuff I've been up to this last weekend, plus should also tell about our wonderful 4th of July - which, to me, really seemed like something out of a storybook, the stuff nostalgia is made of.
Honestly, the financial stress and what-ifs have been a constant annoyance - but overall, I really feel like my life since getting fired from MS has been quite blessed. It's not exactly because I was fired, although getting rid of the bad history at that job and getting lots of time with my children (who desperately needed an attentive parent by that point) really did help everyone get their feet back on the ground.
Pregnancy has also been a great blessing. I really don't take good enough care of myself normally, whether because I'm busy and too much depends on me, or I'm trying to save money, or whatever. Pregnancy forces me to give greater weight to my own health, both because of the increased frailty of my health and because the baby's health is dependent upon my own. The net result is better work-life balance, and I actually get more done than usual at home and work, while still being fairly available to the kids. A lot of this is because I lean more on DH, and find that DH is also strengthened by the challenge of providing for this baby so that he is more available than normal. He was an amazing father during and after my first pregnancy, and I can see him finding his way back into that role again during this pregnancy.
Unfortunately, the Evergreen midwives (whom I received prenatal care from with my twins, until the cord was discovered to be presenting and I needed a C-section) are not an option for the birth. I will be attempting a VBAC, and the Evergreen midwives have a policy of scheduling a C-section for 41 weeks if you don't go into labor first as a VBAC. There's no good medical reason - they do it to avoid liability risks.
I'm trying to transfer my care to Dr. Dana Blackham, who really impressed me during our meet-and-greet with his transparency, knowledge, and interest in my input. Plus, his "late baby VBAC policy" allows for going to 43 weeks or even slightly later with regular ultrasounds and stress tests after 42 weeks (to detect post-maturity syndrome, I presume). Since a late baby is normal in my family, this was a good sign. He also didn't freak out about the idea of a VBAC with a 9-pound baby - and large babies are another family tradition, large even for late babies by a good half pound.
I also need to find a doula, which I haven't yet put much work into. I'd like to find someone who can not only support me & DH in the normal ways, by suggesting ways to cope with labor, but who can also support my faith. I want very much for my birth to be a chance for spiritual growth rather than just a situation to be endured. I don't know how realistic that is, having never been in labor, and I might be naive about being able to gain strength from prayer while, say, going through the transition phase - but I also know that when I get a strong "gut feeling" like this, it's usually worth checking out and putting some effort into. I don't object at all to people laughing at me if I throw the Rosary beads at the doula and beg for an epidural when push comes to shove . . . so to speak.
The girls are excited about the baby, although I think the idea is still a bit abstract for them. They know the baby will be here about one month after Christmas, so they get that there is a wait involved. We'll probably make a "baby advent calendar" from Christmas until a few weeks after the due date, to help them understand the timeline.
DH is also starting to show some signs of excitement, which is a big step. This baby wasn't exactly a surprise, but wasn't exactly planned either. I've been wanting to get pregnant again for about a year and a half, so I had few problems adjusting when our lazy attempts at avoiding pregnancy "failed". DH is in a different position, though. I will say that we both relaxed a lot once we learned that there was only one baby to prepare for, as twins would have devastating implications for our budget. It's not that babies are expensive (they aren't), but twin pregnancy and birth would highly impact my ability to earn an income. Our expenses can't go much lower than they are, since we are upside-down on our mortgage and can't sell the house. We could trim off maybe another $30 a month if we invested several hours a week, but at that point we're better off making sure I stay healthy and don't miss work with that time. It's just a better investment to keep me from missing a day and losing $200+ in income.
I need to write another post about car-buying, and another post about the cool home-improvement stuff I've been up to this last weekend, plus should also tell about our wonderful 4th of July - which, to me, really seemed like something out of a storybook, the stuff nostalgia is made of.
Honestly, the financial stress and what-ifs have been a constant annoyance - but overall, I really feel like my life since getting fired from MS has been quite blessed. It's not exactly because I was fired, although getting rid of the bad history at that job and getting lots of time with my children (who desperately needed an attentive parent by that point) really did help everyone get their feet back on the ground.
Pregnancy has also been a great blessing. I really don't take good enough care of myself normally, whether because I'm busy and too much depends on me, or I'm trying to save money, or whatever. Pregnancy forces me to give greater weight to my own health, both because of the increased frailty of my health and because the baby's health is dependent upon my own. The net result is better work-life balance, and I actually get more done than usual at home and work, while still being fairly available to the kids. A lot of this is because I lean more on DH, and find that DH is also strengthened by the challenge of providing for this baby so that he is more available than normal. He was an amazing father during and after my first pregnancy, and I can see him finding his way back into that role again during this pregnancy.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Credit unions are neat
I finally started to take advantage of one of the benefits of our credit union: Free financial advising. I am very impressed by how much support we are getting right off of the bat!
I expected a quick, 15-minute conversation that would point us in the right direction and leave us to do the footwork. Instead, they are really taking a look with us at our budget (I had to fill out a long workbook with all the gory details) and then having us track our spending for the next month to make sure these numbers seem accurate - and they provided me with a handy Excel spreadsheet, which saves me the effort of having to make my own. The conversation is mostly over email, which is very convenient for everyone.
This is a big help for me, since it brings out my desire to "show off" in a good way - I want these people to be impressed by how quickly we get out of debt! It's not really all that different from setting up a financial partnership with friends to share finances and keep each other on track, but this way I know we're not inconveniencing anyone. This is these fellows' jobs!
I expected a quick, 15-minute conversation that would point us in the right direction and leave us to do the footwork. Instead, they are really taking a look with us at our budget (I had to fill out a long workbook with all the gory details) and then having us track our spending for the next month to make sure these numbers seem accurate - and they provided me with a handy Excel spreadsheet, which saves me the effort of having to make my own. The conversation is mostly over email, which is very convenient for everyone.
This is a big help for me, since it brings out my desire to "show off" in a good way - I want these people to be impressed by how quickly we get out of debt! It's not really all that different from setting up a financial partnership with friends to share finances and keep each other on track, but this way I know we're not inconveniencing anyone. This is these fellows' jobs!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
New debt ticker
I'm stealing another thing from Annaberri's blog - the Debt Ticker! Look to the left side-bar and you'll see ours. It's for non-mortgage debt only, BTW.
We're apparently already 8% of the way over the mountain of debt - mostly due to the unemployment check finally arriving. It filled up our "monthly expenses" account, our $1,000 "emergency funds" account, and then took out one entire (albeit small) credit card's debt and scratched at the edge of one of the two big credit card debts.
We still have yet to see how much we can chisel off each month. At first it will probably be something like 1 to 2%, but we should be able to roll little additional amounts of money into that.
We're apparently already 8% of the way over the mountain of debt - mostly due to the unemployment check finally arriving. It filled up our "monthly expenses" account, our $1,000 "emergency funds" account, and then took out one entire (albeit small) credit card's debt and scratched at the edge of one of the two big credit card debts.
We still have yet to see how much we can chisel off each month. At first it will probably be something like 1 to 2%, but we should be able to roll little additional amounts of money into that.
Things are thawing!
No, I'm not just referring to the warming ground and the shoots of peas coming up in my kitchen garden (much as I am fascinated by them).
I'm talking about the economy. And the fact that DH and I were both just contacted about job opportunities by people we applied to for different positions over a month ago. I told mine I'd be available next March, and DH is probably going to rush out his application today.
Plus, DH just scheduled his Network+ exam. It will be in just over a week. Wow!
I'm talking about the economy. And the fact that DH and I were both just contacted about job opportunities by people we applied to for different positions over a month ago. I told mine I'd be available next March, and DH is probably going to rush out his application today.
Plus, DH just scheduled his Network+ exam. It will be in just over a week. Wow!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Emergency Fund!
Dave Ramsey baby step number 1: Complete. $1K emergency fund, courtesy of Unemployment Insurance. Plus most of 1 month's expenses (just $300 short, but we have a check for the $$ in my work bag).
Now to paying off debt . . . heh. Heh. Riiiiight.
Meh, yeah, I know, it'll happen eventually. It's just a little absurd-seeming from this side of the mountain, but we'll be at the top and ready to coast onto building up our 3 to 6 month's expenses savings before we know it.
Now, I'll try to quit posting about our finances for a while. Those posts are boring to everyone but me. If we get a refinance or DH starts work, or something similar, I'll mention it. But we've hit at least temporary stability, and can relax for a bit.
Now to paying off debt . . . heh. Heh. Riiiiight.
Meh, yeah, I know, it'll happen eventually. It's just a little absurd-seeming from this side of the mountain, but we'll be at the top and ready to coast onto building up our 3 to 6 month's expenses savings before we know it.
Now, I'll try to quit posting about our finances for a while. Those posts are boring to everyone but me. If we get a refinance or DH starts work, or something similar, I'll mention it. But we've hit at least temporary stability, and can relax for a bit.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Financial goodness - about time!
So, unemployment has finally decided I was available for work while I was unemployed. Almost 3 months after I lost my job, and two weeks after I started my new job. The money should be in our bank account by Wednesday.
I also got my first paycheck. This is the really big news: I assumed 20% of our income would be paid to taxes, to be sure that I wouldn't underestimate when budgeting. I was waaayyyy over . . . by over $600 / month. We've gone from being $100 / month short of covering our current expenses to having over $500 a month to pay into debt. Wow. Good thing I took every exemption that we qualify for! We still have a long haul to pay off our debts, but now we can actually start estimating a realistic end date.
The only bad news is that two nights ago, I again went through the exercise of summing up our debt. We are going to need a roof replacement, which we've already arranged for. I think we got a fair deal arranged for that, and we have 0% / 0 payments for one year financing so we won't get hit with a bad APR (I really think we can pay it off in that time), but still - it's another huge addition to the pile of debt. We have a small mountain ahead of us, and we were debt-free just last July. Even with these bits of good news, it's clear that we probably won't get out of debt as fast as we went into it. Unless, of course, DH gets a job.
Oh, one more good piece of news! DH's studies for his Network+ certification seem to be moving along nicely. I'm really impressed. He's going to start self-testing to see if he's ready this week, and then will either schedule his exam or settle down for another four weeks of winter . . . I mean, studying.
I also got my first paycheck. This is the really big news: I assumed 20% of our income would be paid to taxes, to be sure that I wouldn't underestimate when budgeting. I was waaayyyy over . . . by over $600 / month. We've gone from being $100 / month short of covering our current expenses to having over $500 a month to pay into debt. Wow. Good thing I took every exemption that we qualify for! We still have a long haul to pay off our debts, but now we can actually start estimating a realistic end date.
The only bad news is that two nights ago, I again went through the exercise of summing up our debt. We are going to need a roof replacement, which we've already arranged for. I think we got a fair deal arranged for that, and we have 0% / 0 payments for one year financing so we won't get hit with a bad APR (I really think we can pay it off in that time), but still - it's another huge addition to the pile of debt. We have a small mountain ahead of us, and we were debt-free just last July. Even with these bits of good news, it's clear that we probably won't get out of debt as fast as we went into it. Unless, of course, DH gets a job.
Oh, one more good piece of news! DH's studies for his Network+ certification seem to be moving along nicely. I'm really impressed. He's going to start self-testing to see if he's ready this week, and then will either schedule his exam or settle down for another four weeks of winter . . . I mean, studying.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Anyone tried MagicJack?
I ran across a gadget that is supposed to allow you to have free phone service anywhere in the US for $40 for the first year, $20 for the second year. Yes, that's right. They bill by the year. It's called MagicJack.
It doesn't look like a scam at all. They were reviewed by PC Magazine, and orginally got an Editor's Choice. However, then PC magazine received complaints about MagicJack, looked into them, and updated their opinion. PC Magazine's end conclusion: "From a technology standpoint, the magicJack is a very interesting device. I like it very much and have no hesitation in recommending it—but only to tech-savvy users." Basically, the product can be difficult to set up if your system isn't perfect, can have problems at low bandwidths, and the tech support stinks.
We're thinking of getting the MagicJack to replace our AT&T VoIP. That's a cost of $10 in the first month over our current phone service, and savings of $30/month for the next year. We could then afford to keep the cell phone, using a pay-as-you-go plan, so that we have something when out of the house. But hearing from someone we know who has tried a MagicJack first would be nice. Is this really something we want for our primary phone?
It doesn't look like a scam at all. They were reviewed by PC Magazine, and orginally got an Editor's Choice. However, then PC magazine received complaints about MagicJack, looked into them, and updated their opinion. PC Magazine's end conclusion: "From a technology standpoint, the magicJack is a very interesting device. I like it very much and have no hesitation in recommending it—but only to tech-savvy users." Basically, the product can be difficult to set up if your system isn't perfect, can have problems at low bandwidths, and the tech support stinks.
We're thinking of getting the MagicJack to replace our AT&T VoIP. That's a cost of $10 in the first month over our current phone service, and savings of $30/month for the next year. We could then afford to keep the cell phone, using a pay-as-you-go plan, so that we have something when out of the house. But hearing from someone we know who has tried a MagicJack first would be nice. Is this really something we want for our primary phone?
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Squeezin' the budget
Here is where I post our financial details. In public. Because I have no shame, and very few people I know read this anyways :-) I wrote this post in parallel with the last, so you might want to read that one first.
Our expenses are:
Category-by-category, here is how we can trim:
Anyways, these changes should help us move from a budget where expenses slightly exceed income to something that will allow us to pay off a couple hundred dollars of debt or more each month. If anyone sees something we missed that could save us money, please leave a comment!
As for clothing, gifts, etc. - not in the budget. Freecycle, trades, begging from friends, and other free methods only! Home repairs are a potential biggie not in the budget, and I know this. We'll be keeping one month's expenses plus $1K in our bank accounts once we build it up, but anything bigger will have to be handled with yet another loan. The best way to be secure against major repairs is probably to keep doing what we are doing, get rid of debt, and try to get 3 to 6 months' savings stored up. Health co-pays and other health costs fall into the same area. We might want to put bus passes or bus fare in the budget - need to examine this more, though, as we might just walk and bike everywhere if it's too expensive to bus. I'm not sure if we missed anything else that should be here. let me know if you see something!
One more section: Goals. These are all temporary, and will be modified as our situation changes (our long-term goals are still in flux, as DH may or may not become the sole income). But here is the current draft:
1) Save 1 month's expenses.
2) Save $1K emergency fund.
3) Pay off credit card No. 1.
4) Pay off credit card No. 2.
5) Pay off student loan.
6) Re-work budget - add in some expenses for the most difficult cuts (like maybe the car).
7) Save up month 2 & 3's expenses in savings.
8) Rework budget. Add in some expenses for the most difficult cuts (maybe increase groceries to include special treats).
9) Save up month 4 through 6's expenses in 3-month CD's.
10) Rework budget. Add in some expenses for the most difficult cuts.
11) Start retirement savings.
12) Start "life plans" savings for pre-retirement funds - children's college supplementary funds ('cuz I don't want to fully "pay their way") and "lose the day-job / start a home business" funds.
I like the idea of scheduling in the points where we can modify our budget - of course, major life changes would also get a modification. But this way it's like enrolling in health insurance: We've signed up, and we can only change things at the pre-determined times or something big changing our circumstances. Of course, DH still hasn't signed off on everything - so it's not 100% locked in yet.
Our expenses are:
- food & groceries
- phones
- Internet
- Water/sewer
- Electricity
- Gas (PSE)
- Garbage
- Mortgage
- debt
- car insurance
- gas
- car maintenance
- health insurance
- taxes
- charity
Category-by-category, here is how we can trim:
- Groceries: I'm in charge of shopping and pre-prepping dinners. Our current strategy is to only buy at Cash 'n' Carry, excepting milk (which we need to buy a little more often), hygiene, and pet care stuff (the last two aren't at Cash 'N' Carry). Since we're planning on retiring the car for a bit (see below), we'll shop there about once a month with a shopping buddy (probably my MIL, as this will be mutually beneficial) who can help us out with a car - in return for help scouring ads or a frozen meal. I'm pretty good at combining low-$$ with high-nutrition, and handy enough with spices and sauces that things still taste good - so we will be going pretty cheap. I can't say how much this will save us - I have $400 budgeted for groceries (including personal hygiene & pet stuff) at the moment and that's been pretty accurate in the past, but it will take time to figure out how much lower this gets us. Savings: Unknown, hopefully $100 / month. Schedule: Already started.
When we have a bit more time, we can night-potty-train the girls so we can quit buying diapers. They are pretty much ready, but we the parents need to be prepared to get them up in the middle of the night to go potty until the girls are prepared to handle that on their own. And handle the inevitable accidents that will happen until they can remember upon waking that they are no longer wearing diapers and need to go to the potty. Savings: $20 to $40 / month. Schedule: Need to discuss with DH; hopefully 1 month, April 17th - Phones: We have two phones right now - a VoIP land line, and a cell phone. The VoIP line is just over $30 a month. THANK HEAVENS we were smart, and did a Pay-As-You-Go cell phone plan! Saving money on our phone bills was as simple as stopping automatic payments for it - no contract!!! In fact, we like it so much that we may switch to two pay-as-you-go cells and no land line. First, we need to figure out how much a cheap cell phone for me will cost. Then, we need to estimate how many minutes per month we use our landline for to be reasonably sure we'll actually pay less (Pay-as-you-go doesn't have free minutes) and guesstimate how long it will take to recoup the costs of the new phone. Finally, we can then continue to reduce our phone costs by reducing our minutes - by using alternate communication methods, like a public blog for friends and family (my family doesn't know about this blog, or I wouldn't post so much personal info . . . funny, huh?). Savings: Guessing $10 to $20 / month, after recouping costs of new cheap cell. Schedule: Start the process in one week - March 30th. Be done with it in two more weeks - April 13th, in time to go car-free.
- Internet: We may be able to switch to DSL with Verizon. We need to see if they have service in our area, and what the costs of quitting Comcast and starting with Verizon are. We might be able to negotiate on start-up fees or use a lower-cost option to negotiate with Comcast. Savings: $20 to $30 / month. Schedule: Start looking into this with the phones, and be done on the same timeline (March 30th to April 1st).
- Water / sewer: Water-saving will take a lot of effort and habit-building for us, as we are not extravagent users. It would take a lot of discipline to save $10. This isn't something we worry about until later. I think sewer is a flat fee, so no thoughts there. When we do get to water, some things to look at: Rain barrels, for yard care water. Washing dishes by filling up the sick. We could probably cut down water in the girls' baths, but not for DH and me - we're already pretty low-water for self-cleaning.
- Electricity has some of the same problems as water: It requires habit-building. This is slightly higher-priority than water, as there is more we could do with less effort: Turn off computers and monitors each night. Maybe do an inspection of our lightbulbs and see if we could switch to lower-energy bulbs. Get a night-light for the cats instead of leaving the garage light on all night (they weren't using the litter boxes when it was too dark in there, and the motion detectors don't pick them up).
- Gas (for heating & cooking): We've done most of what we can easily do here. The house gets heated to 70 degrees at 6 AM for people to wake up. It gets heated to 65 degrees or so at 7 PM for baths and bedtime. The rest of the time, it's allowed to cool down to . . . I think 50 degrees. Maybe 55. We could adjust by 5 degrees here or there, and may be able to use space heating - but this is lower-priority, between electricity and water. We're not gong to try and reduce cooking gas.
- Garbage: Someone mentioned being able to change size of containers and pickup frequency. Not sure if this is available to us. It's worth looking into once we've handled everything else not low-priority on this list as it is very simple. Savings: $5/month. Schedule: 5 weeks to start - April 27th. One more week to conclude - May 4th.
- Mortgage: We might benefit from some of the new programs being rolled out. A superficial check with our mortgage holder said that we will probably be eligible for both of the programs they are offering (but might need to pick one). I'm not counting on this, but it's helpful to keep in mind. It might also allow us to sell our house (probably upside-down on the mortgage due to dropping real estate values and no-down-payment mortgage right now), although DH and I have only considered that option in passing. I think DH would rather keep this house, and not sure if he is willing to give it up so that we can live off of his income when he returns to work. Obviously, we're making this pretty high-priority right now! Savings: Up to $650 (current mortgage - 38% of our income) under one plan, and not sure about the other. Schedule: ASAP, as fast as Countrywide or Bank of America (whoever owns the mortgage right then) will allow.
- Debt: Yeah, yeah, we know how to reduce this already. Dave Ramnsey, debt snowball, yadda yadda. Been there, done that, ready to do it again. We're starting with minimum payments on non-mortgage debt of around $200 ($40 for college, $160 for credit cards), and that will be going down to $0 as we pay off debt with all the money we're saving with all these changes we are making. Savings: Up to $200 in minimum fees, plus something like $150 / month in APR being added to our total. Schedule: ASAP, after 1 month's expenses and $1K savings in bank
- Vehicle costs (insurance, driving gas, maintenance): If we go "car free" (quit paying insurance and quit driving, leaving the car in the driveway and using it as outside storage) we can get rid of insurance, gasoline, and maintenance. Yes, we know what we are looking at in terms of effort; we've done this before. We have a P&R about 1 mile from our house, so we can still take trips into the world for the cost of bus fare. I'll have to research commuter / reduced car use incentives that may apply - we might be eligible for free bus passes, etc. The biggest change will be giving up Rosary Group, but I even have a plan for handling that (I am crafty!). I will probably send out an email later this week. Savings: $100 to $300. Schedule: In 3 weeks - April 13th - to give time for my new commute to settle down.
- Health insurance: We will be only insuring me with my employer; DH and the girls will instead join a larger-deductible individual plan that we found online. The girls may qualify for cheaper state insurance, but that will take a couple of months to get working - if so, we can change their and DH's insurance plans (without waiting for an enrollment period, or having coverage gaps!) and save about another $40 a month. Seriously, I had no idea individual insurance like this was out there. eHealthInsurance - if you want to check it out. Savings: $168 / month. Schedule: DH and the girls have already applied, and should be insured April 1st. I need to get my application in by tomorrow, and should be insured April 1st.
- Taxes: Right now I'm having an extra $15 a week withheld to cover taxes from my unemployment. But we should probably drop that, and focus on our current expenses. We're likely to be getting a small refund anyways, so paying extra probably doesn't make sense. I think I've taken all the deductions I can on my W-4, so that will help. And yes, we've already received this year's income tax refund.Savings: Well, not technically savings, but $15 / month right now instead of either a refund or payment at next year's tax time. Schedule: Ugh, should give this time to avoid paperwork snafu's. Let's say, 7weeks: May 11th
- Charity: This is new to our budget (because we are selfish, selfish people *shame*), but something we need to start planning for (and, to be honest, I promised God we'd do this once I got a job . . . before looking at our budget). Under these circumstances, understand that I am *not* mentioning this to brag, LOL. Rather, I'm putting it up here so that I will feel committed to it and will see it as part of our monthly "expenses". Since we are out of "treasure" right now, we will be donating time and talent - time will be proportional to my working hours. We are creating a schedule for this right now. I has me some fun ideas about how to "spend" this *grin*. Not sure if DH is willing to help with this beyond the support role, but he could also "spend" some of this time on a charitable cause he wishes to support. Savings: $0 (new to our budget). Schedule: Start immediately with planning, try to get in our "donation" of time for this week by EOD Saturday.
Anyways, these changes should help us move from a budget where expenses slightly exceed income to something that will allow us to pay off a couple hundred dollars of debt or more each month. If anyone sees something we missed that could save us money, please leave a comment!
As for clothing, gifts, etc. - not in the budget. Freecycle, trades, begging from friends, and other free methods only! Home repairs are a potential biggie not in the budget, and I know this. We'll be keeping one month's expenses plus $1K in our bank accounts once we build it up, but anything bigger will have to be handled with yet another loan. The best way to be secure against major repairs is probably to keep doing what we are doing, get rid of debt, and try to get 3 to 6 months' savings stored up. Health co-pays and other health costs fall into the same area. We might want to put bus passes or bus fare in the budget - need to examine this more, though, as we might just walk and bike everywhere if it's too expensive to bus. I'm not sure if we missed anything else that should be here. let me know if you see something!
One more section: Goals. These are all temporary, and will be modified as our situation changes (our long-term goals are still in flux, as DH may or may not become the sole income). But here is the current draft:
1) Save 1 month's expenses.
2) Save $1K emergency fund.
3) Pay off credit card No. 1.
4) Pay off credit card No. 2.
5) Pay off student loan.
6) Re-work budget - add in some expenses for the most difficult cuts (like maybe the car).
7) Save up month 2 & 3's expenses in savings.
8) Rework budget. Add in some expenses for the most difficult cuts (maybe increase groceries to include special treats).
9) Save up month 4 through 6's expenses in 3-month CD's.
10) Rework budget. Add in some expenses for the most difficult cuts.
11) Start retirement savings.
12) Start "life plans" savings for pre-retirement funds - children's college supplementary funds ('cuz I don't want to fully "pay their way") and "lose the day-job / start a home business" funds.
I like the idea of scheduling in the points where we can modify our budget - of course, major life changes would also get a modification. But this way it's like enrolling in health insurance: We've signed up, and we can only change things at the pre-determined times or something big changing our circumstances. Of course, DH still hasn't signed off on everything - so it's not 100% locked in yet.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
I need to stop disappearing
Just a quick update on our family.
The main reason that there haven't been many posts is that I've been sick ever since the last time I posted - first with a cold, and then with what seemed likely to have been bronchitis. Between getting healthy and looking for work, I've been out of energy long before I ever get to posting on this blog.
However, I have started on another blog, called "Homeschool Bright and Early". Very simply, it's about homeschooling toddlers and preschool-aged children. So far I'm just getting started, but I'm building up posts and ideas very quickly, and am very excited about it.
Part of the motivation is to share an important part of my life (the raising and education of my children), and the information I learn while trying to do that, with others. However, I have another, ulterior, motive: See if I have what it takes to build up a good blog and maybe even make a little money off of it. I hear rumors of a few bloggers making significant amounts of cash, and am wondering if I could do it. Yes, I recognize that this isn't the most lucrative subject matter - but it's economical with my time, since I would be doing the research I do for the blog anyways for our own family (but perhaps not in quite so much depth). Plus . . . it's something I care about.
Meanwhile, DH and I are looking for work, making several job contacts a day each. We're learning that, unlike previous job searches, the phone might be our best friend in this economy. I've had two recruiters express thankfulness that I called them to get their attention just today alone. We both hate talking on the phone, especially to strangers, so . . . yuck.
Today was the kickoff for 40 Days for Life. Last time I was pretty much invisible, praying and offering a very small fast and only giving an hour of my time in vigil outside of the local Planned Parenthood. This time, I plan to be much more involved. At least until I get a job.
Now that I'm starting to feel healthier, I'm also starting to remember how to get myself to accomplish more on, say, my job search: Hold myself to higher standards across the board and keep busy. If I don't take on enough activities, I will do worse at the few I do take on. I don't get it either, I seem to be weird this way, but pouring effort into one area of my life seems to have a synergistic effect on every other area I want to pour effort into. Of course, there is a saturation point, and if I cross that line things do go downhill a little - but I'm generally better off taking on too much rather than too little (when I am healthy - which I currently am).
So, I currently have a job search, 40 DfL, a homeschooling blog, mothering my children, and . . . Lent. I like to write down my Lenten commitments so I know what I'm holding myself to, so here they are:
1) A rosary a day for 54 days starting on Monday (two days ago) and ending on Divine Mercy Sunday (or maybe the day before .. . I forget) offered for the conversion of my beloved husband. Yes, he knows about this. It's become a tradition :-)
2) Participation in 40 DfL
3) Giving up leaven (yeast, baking powder, baking soda) and products made with leaven (leavened breads, etc.).
There is the possibility of a 4th commitment, but only if my friends decide to give it a try with me. Rikki-san, that's the idea you came up with during the homeschooling meeting BTW. If you and / or Annaberri are doing that, let me know so I can join in!
I still feel like this isn't really quite enough for me, so I'm also going to be starting a garden next week, helping DH build closet bunk beds for the girls probably the week after, and possibly rejoining the choir. And I'm also seeking out volunteer opportunities for my technical skills.
The biggest problem with my job search so far has been a lack of energy, I suspect. Hopefully getting more active will help a lot with that. Of course, finally getting over bronchitis should help as well.
You know how you can tell this was a quick post? It's very long and wordy. My short posts are the ones where I've heavily edited myself and polished my words. The long ones are the equivalent of frenetic scribbling, jotting, and brainstorming and take very little time to produce. If you visit my homeschooling blog, you'll notice the posts tend to be a lot shorter.
The main reason that there haven't been many posts is that I've been sick ever since the last time I posted - first with a cold, and then with what seemed likely to have been bronchitis. Between getting healthy and looking for work, I've been out of energy long before I ever get to posting on this blog.
However, I have started on another blog, called "Homeschool Bright and Early". Very simply, it's about homeschooling toddlers and preschool-aged children. So far I'm just getting started, but I'm building up posts and ideas very quickly, and am very excited about it.
Part of the motivation is to share an important part of my life (the raising and education of my children), and the information I learn while trying to do that, with others. However, I have another, ulterior, motive: See if I have what it takes to build up a good blog and maybe even make a little money off of it. I hear rumors of a few bloggers making significant amounts of cash, and am wondering if I could do it. Yes, I recognize that this isn't the most lucrative subject matter - but it's economical with my time, since I would be doing the research I do for the blog anyways for our own family (but perhaps not in quite so much depth). Plus . . . it's something I care about.
Meanwhile, DH and I are looking for work, making several job contacts a day each. We're learning that, unlike previous job searches, the phone might be our best friend in this economy. I've had two recruiters express thankfulness that I called them to get their attention just today alone. We both hate talking on the phone, especially to strangers, so . . . yuck.
Today was the kickoff for 40 Days for Life. Last time I was pretty much invisible, praying and offering a very small fast and only giving an hour of my time in vigil outside of the local Planned Parenthood. This time, I plan to be much more involved. At least until I get a job.
Now that I'm starting to feel healthier, I'm also starting to remember how to get myself to accomplish more on, say, my job search: Hold myself to higher standards across the board and keep busy. If I don't take on enough activities, I will do worse at the few I do take on. I don't get it either, I seem to be weird this way, but pouring effort into one area of my life seems to have a synergistic effect on every other area I want to pour effort into. Of course, there is a saturation point, and if I cross that line things do go downhill a little - but I'm generally better off taking on too much rather than too little (when I am healthy - which I currently am).
So, I currently have a job search, 40 DfL, a homeschooling blog, mothering my children, and . . . Lent. I like to write down my Lenten commitments so I know what I'm holding myself to, so here they are:
1) A rosary a day for 54 days starting on Monday (two days ago) and ending on Divine Mercy Sunday (or maybe the day before .. . I forget) offered for the conversion of my beloved husband. Yes, he knows about this. It's become a tradition :-)
2) Participation in 40 DfL
3) Giving up leaven (yeast, baking powder, baking soda) and products made with leaven (leavened breads, etc.).
There is the possibility of a 4th commitment, but only if my friends decide to give it a try with me. Rikki-san, that's the idea you came up with during the homeschooling meeting BTW. If you and / or Annaberri are doing that, let me know so I can join in!
I still feel like this isn't really quite enough for me, so I'm also going to be starting a garden next week, helping DH build closet bunk beds for the girls probably the week after, and possibly rejoining the choir. And I'm also seeking out volunteer opportunities for my technical skills.
The biggest problem with my job search so far has been a lack of energy, I suspect. Hopefully getting more active will help a lot with that. Of course, finally getting over bronchitis should help as well.
You know how you can tell this was a quick post? It's very long and wordy. My short posts are the ones where I've heavily edited myself and polished my words. The long ones are the equivalent of frenetic scribbling, jotting, and brainstorming and take very little time to produce. If you visit my homeschooling blog, you'll notice the posts tend to be a lot shorter.
Monday, December 15, 2008
More on debt and investing
We are going to be able to pay off our debt more quickly than I thought. Which is good, since we probably won't get much of a tax return. Even without making the slightest attempt to curb our spending, we are chipping away at the debt. In the spendiest part of the year. While stocking up on meat and freeze-dried goods on top of the holiday spending.
As for our tax return being small, I took the maximum amount of exemptions that we qualified for, and have paid very little in income tax. With buying the house, we may get something back. I'm just not sure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Someone wisely commented on how I really should have more $$ in savings on my last post - about 10 times more - and wondering how I could feel more secure with investments than savings. Well, it's not entirely rational, but there is a psychological reason I prefer stocks: I am less likely to touch them than savings.
Let's face it, the biggest risk to my savings isn't the economy or Microsoft's stock price. The greatest risk is my own bad spending habits. I am unlikely to lose even half of my savings from market volatility. If I did, though, I'd still have 50% of the money I set aside in the market. On the other hand, there are much higher odds of me spending 100% of my savings for a non-emergency if it's just in the bank. Then I am left with no savings at all, nothing but some stuff - or, more likely, memories of eating out unnecessarily and some extra pounds around my middle.
I get emotionally involved with saving through investments in a way I just don't about savings in the bank - something about the gambling nature of it all, the possible big win someday. Paying off credit card debt has a similar emotional force for me. In the end, that emotional force matters more than a set 3% rate of return in an online bank or the potential 20% loss due to market volatility and needing to withdraw at a market low. I just can't trust myself to keep $$ in the bank for very long, once I get past about one month's buffer. But I'm darned if I'm going to sell stock at a loss for anything less than an emergency, or keep paying those credit card APRs forever! For that, I will be the most frugal gal in town!
Plus I get a 10% discount on MS stock through the employee purchase plan that can help offset volatility. So that also helps me feel more secure about buying MS stock. Yes, I know I should diversify, but I really can't try to do this perfectly right now until our household gets more organized and I have more time. And that 10% buffer is too enticing. Then, too, the odds of MS tanking and wiping out all of my investments are really low - although anything is possible. So I'm putting all of my money there, until things calm down and I have a chance to think and say, "What do I really want to do with this money I'm saving each month long-term, now that I'm used to setting it aside?"
As for our tax return being small, I took the maximum amount of exemptions that we qualified for, and have paid very little in income tax. With buying the house, we may get something back. I'm just not sure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Someone wisely commented on how I really should have more $$ in savings on my last post - about 10 times more - and wondering how I could feel more secure with investments than savings. Well, it's not entirely rational, but there is a psychological reason I prefer stocks: I am less likely to touch them than savings.
Let's face it, the biggest risk to my savings isn't the economy or Microsoft's stock price. The greatest risk is my own bad spending habits. I am unlikely to lose even half of my savings from market volatility. If I did, though, I'd still have 50% of the money I set aside in the market. On the other hand, there are much higher odds of me spending 100% of my savings for a non-emergency if it's just in the bank. Then I am left with no savings at all, nothing but some stuff - or, more likely, memories of eating out unnecessarily and some extra pounds around my middle.
I get emotionally involved with saving through investments in a way I just don't about savings in the bank - something about the gambling nature of it all, the possible big win someday. Paying off credit card debt has a similar emotional force for me. In the end, that emotional force matters more than a set 3% rate of return in an online bank or the potential 20% loss due to market volatility and needing to withdraw at a market low. I just can't trust myself to keep $$ in the bank for very long, once I get past about one month's buffer. But I'm darned if I'm going to sell stock at a loss for anything less than an emergency, or keep paying those credit card APRs forever! For that, I will be the most frugal gal in town!
Plus I get a 10% discount on MS stock through the employee purchase plan that can help offset volatility. So that also helps me feel more secure about buying MS stock. Yes, I know I should diversify, but I really can't try to do this perfectly right now until our household gets more organized and I have more time. And that 10% buffer is too enticing. Then, too, the odds of MS tanking and wiping out all of my investments are really low - although anything is possible. So I'm putting all of my money there, until things calm down and I have a chance to think and say, "What do I really want to do with this money I'm saving each month long-term, now that I'm used to setting it aside?"
Thursday, December 4, 2008
My poor, sweet 401(k)
So I, uh, looked at my 401(k) just now. I basically contributed for the employer match until right before the market started tanking last spring, and then had to take a break so I could manage our other finances. Um, yeah, about that employer match?
Gone. Entirely. With a little extra to boot. Even *with* the employer match, I've lost about $30 (-34.9% YTD change).
BUT! I'm going to be able to start investing in my 401(k) again very soon. So hopefully I'm getting some great bargains now, and will make back the money I lost and then some. Plus I'll be putting some money into my employer's stock purchase plan. The stock is selling for about half what it was earlier this year . . . yay! Of course, this means I won't be paying off my credit cards as fast (we went back into debt recently, in addition to the mortgage of course), but my gut says that we'll do OK on that anyways, and we're better off building up our savings right now. I find that it's easier for me to save by investing than by putting $$ in the bank, so that's what I'm focusing on. Having a large savings account somehow just doesn't make me feel very secure - but having $$ in investments does.
Gone. Entirely. With a little extra to boot. Even *with* the employer match, I've lost about $30 (-34.9% YTD change).
BUT! I'm going to be able to start investing in my 401(k) again very soon. So hopefully I'm getting some great bargains now, and will make back the money I lost and then some. Plus I'll be putting some money into my employer's stock purchase plan. The stock is selling for about half what it was earlier this year . . . yay! Of course, this means I won't be paying off my credit cards as fast (we went back into debt recently, in addition to the mortgage of course), but my gut says that we'll do OK on that anyways, and we're better off building up our savings right now. I find that it's easier for me to save by investing than by putting $$ in the bank, so that's what I'm focusing on. Having a large savings account somehow just doesn't make me feel very secure - but having $$ in investments does.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Back to work
I'm back at work, and things seem to be going well. I think the big advantage of having time off from work ended up being space to get medical care. Apparently, my poor performance at work wasn't due just to stress. I was actually low on iron as well. I don't think I was anemic, but I was definitely close enough to be getting many symptoms - fatigue, dizziness, restless leg syndrome (which impacted sleep . . . which caused fatigue . . .), irritability, and depression. I am now taking 16 times the normal daily recommended iron in pill-form with vitamin C, and am doing much better.
Returning to work was a bit scary - but mostly because I wasn't sure I would be able to function better once I got back. In fact, the first day, last Friday, I didn't function well. I was almost falling asleep in meetings, exhausted by the time the day was over, and worried that I wasn't going to be healthy in time. Some dear friends were very nice to me when I stopped by after work, and I felt better in time to sleep well that night.
In retrospect, the issue was probably that I'd figured out I was supposed to be taking six pills of iron, and not just one a day, a mere two days or less ahead of time - and the iron simply hadn't built up yet. I was probably actually sicker than I was when I started leave (more on that later) when I started the supplements, near the end of leave. Over the weekend, I seem to have rebuilt up the critical amount of iron so I can function pretty well - I'm still getting tired and short dizzy spells in the evenings, but I'm enthused about work again.
So, why did I have iron deficiency? Often, this can be a sign of a much more serious issue - cancer, internal bleeding, and other yucky stuff. You will be happy to know that is probably NOT the case here. Most likely, I ran short because I donated blood, and apparently can't replenish my iron as quickly as many other people. I need to check with my doctor a bit more, and will badger him about further testing - but this explanation really fits the evidence. For example, things got a lot rougher after the move - and, looking back at email, I did donate blood about two or three weeks after the move. Before that, I remember getting despondent around December to January. I assumed that it was because covering for my teammates on vacation kept me from learning my own position and that was demoralizing, especially when the new person joined and I still didn't know what MY job was - but I actually also donated blood around late December, too.
And there's a big silver lining. DH and I are finally dealing with some major relationship issues that were unsurfaced by all of this. You know, the ones I've been blogging about? They weren't just products of my iron deficiency or bad mood, and they weren't my fault (although I certainly haven't been helping things get better lately, either).
So, looking at the results of being sick:
1) I came close to losing my job and lost some of my coworkers' confidence in me.
2) Our finances are really bad right now. We're scraping by for the next six weeks.
3) DH and I are finally working on a chronic problem in our relationship - in the past, the main person working on fixing things has been me. The chronic problem, of course, is that responsibility in our family hasn't been balanced appropriately. DH is finally taking on the main responsibility for working on this problem - and other responsibilities are shifting as well.
4) We got to see what happens when I can't function well, which clearly underscored the importance of #3. There really has been too much depending on me.
5) Following from #4, DH is seeing how important he is to our family from a new perspective: He is seeing how he can be strong when I am weak - and how critical it is that he volunteers to be strong. This next statement probably won't surprise anyone reading this blog - but dads / husbands matter! And not just as a paycheck or daily child care. Yet, I've been shocked by how many people are happy to give men a "pass" on participating fully beyond their basic 9-to-5 duties.
6) I now am healthy again, and have a better idea of what being healthy looks like. I think I might have been low on iron before and didn't recognize it, in retrospect. That probably won't happen again.
7) I am now better prepared to promote my expectations of my partner, and better able to trust in my ability to be reasonable. I spent a lot of time looking for outside confirmation that what I was asking from my husband was, in fact, reasonable. In retrospect, I know the answer: My expectations were not reasonable. I expected far too little, and the fact that DH was still struggling to meet those very low expectations was a symptom of a bigger issue and a sign that he needed some help from someone else.
8) I now know the value of considering the possibility that the other person is contributing to a problem as well, instead of assuming that if I do things differently or "get it right", I can make the problem will go away on my own. Recognizing other people's failings can be a good thing, if done with charity.
9) I got a month to spend with my family, with no parent working outside the home. "Some things, money can't buy." I'm saving my vacation time so we can do this again - have a long period of time, at home, just being together doing normal things.
A lengthy, wordy list (but hey, what did you expect from me?). The summary: Career and finances are in a bad position, but we're poised to make the most of it with flying colors. So things will probably continue to be annoying for a while longer as I repair my career and we get finances back on track. Then we'll probably regain our ground and have enough momentum to "get ahead", and then get enough wiggle room to make some changes and get a bit more "control" over our lives - although maybe "influence" is a better word; we never really get full control over anything in life. But we do get a lot of influence - if we keep our eyes open for it.
Returning to work was a bit scary - but mostly because I wasn't sure I would be able to function better once I got back. In fact, the first day, last Friday, I didn't function well. I was almost falling asleep in meetings, exhausted by the time the day was over, and worried that I wasn't going to be healthy in time. Some dear friends were very nice to me when I stopped by after work, and I felt better in time to sleep well that night.
In retrospect, the issue was probably that I'd figured out I was supposed to be taking six pills of iron, and not just one a day, a mere two days or less ahead of time - and the iron simply hadn't built up yet. I was probably actually sicker than I was when I started leave (more on that later) when I started the supplements, near the end of leave. Over the weekend, I seem to have rebuilt up the critical amount of iron so I can function pretty well - I'm still getting tired and short dizzy spells in the evenings, but I'm enthused about work again.
So, why did I have iron deficiency? Often, this can be a sign of a much more serious issue - cancer, internal bleeding, and other yucky stuff. You will be happy to know that is probably NOT the case here. Most likely, I ran short because I donated blood, and apparently can't replenish my iron as quickly as many other people. I need to check with my doctor a bit more, and will badger him about further testing - but this explanation really fits the evidence. For example, things got a lot rougher after the move - and, looking back at email, I did donate blood about two or three weeks after the move. Before that, I remember getting despondent around December to January. I assumed that it was because covering for my teammates on vacation kept me from learning my own position and that was demoralizing, especially when the new person joined and I still didn't know what MY job was - but I actually also donated blood around late December, too.
And there's a big silver lining. DH and I are finally dealing with some major relationship issues that were unsurfaced by all of this. You know, the ones I've been blogging about? They weren't just products of my iron deficiency or bad mood, and they weren't my fault (although I certainly haven't been helping things get better lately, either).
So, looking at the results of being sick:
1) I came close to losing my job and lost some of my coworkers' confidence in me.
2) Our finances are really bad right now. We're scraping by for the next six weeks.
3) DH and I are finally working on a chronic problem in our relationship - in the past, the main person working on fixing things has been me. The chronic problem, of course, is that responsibility in our family hasn't been balanced appropriately. DH is finally taking on the main responsibility for working on this problem - and other responsibilities are shifting as well.
4) We got to see what happens when I can't function well, which clearly underscored the importance of #3. There really has been too much depending on me.
5) Following from #4, DH is seeing how important he is to our family from a new perspective: He is seeing how he can be strong when I am weak - and how critical it is that he volunteers to be strong. This next statement probably won't surprise anyone reading this blog - but dads / husbands matter! And not just as a paycheck or daily child care. Yet, I've been shocked by how many people are happy to give men a "pass" on participating fully beyond their basic 9-to-5 duties.
6) I now am healthy again, and have a better idea of what being healthy looks like. I think I might have been low on iron before and didn't recognize it, in retrospect. That probably won't happen again.
7) I am now better prepared to promote my expectations of my partner, and better able to trust in my ability to be reasonable. I spent a lot of time looking for outside confirmation that what I was asking from my husband was, in fact, reasonable. In retrospect, I know the answer: My expectations were not reasonable. I expected far too little, and the fact that DH was still struggling to meet those very low expectations was a symptom of a bigger issue and a sign that he needed some help from someone else.
8) I now know the value of considering the possibility that the other person is contributing to a problem as well, instead of assuming that if I do things differently or "get it right", I can make the problem will go away on my own. Recognizing other people's failings can be a good thing, if done with charity.
9) I got a month to spend with my family, with no parent working outside the home. "Some things, money can't buy." I'm saving my vacation time so we can do this again - have a long period of time, at home, just being together doing normal things.
A lengthy, wordy list (but hey, what did you expect from me?). The summary: Career and finances are in a bad position, but we're poised to make the most of it with flying colors. So things will probably continue to be annoying for a while longer as I repair my career and we get finances back on track. Then we'll probably regain our ground and have enough momentum to "get ahead", and then get enough wiggle room to make some changes and get a bit more "control" over our lives - although maybe "influence" is a better word; we never really get full control over anything in life. But we do get a lot of influence - if we keep our eyes open for it.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Monetary value of a SAHP to their family - specifically, my DH
I was running through the numbers of how much DH saves us in dollars by being a SAHP, and how much value he provides - as well as thinking about how much a SAHP *can* provide. There is a point to this, besides simple number-cruching - but I'm going to show that point at the end.
DH has been a SAHP for 13 months now. Calculations suggest that he's saved us $18,066 in childcare expenses so far (we've paid for part-time care for much of that time). I've also been out of the house more recently due to falling behind in work and a longer commute, resulting in him providing another $1,137 or so of care that is added value - totalling $19,203 of value for childcare alone.
On average, I'd say our grocery bill has dropped by about $100 / month and the quality of our meals has risen by $100 / month. So that is another $1,200 of savings and $1,200 of added value, totalling $2,400 for food.
We went without a car for 9 months, something we never could have done on two incomes. We saved $2,500 up front in repairs and another $400 / month or so in budgeted car expenses (maintenance, insurance, gas), so $9,600 for transportation savings without a car. We also were able to buy a cheap, unreliable car when we wanted a car after moving, rather than spending more for a reliable vehicle - but I have no estimate to calculate savings from. Savings: $9,600 in transportation costs (and then some).
We pay less for our benefits, since we no longer have the two-company's-benefit-plans penalty. On my old job, this would have been around $100 / month, and at Microsoft that would have been $75. Savings: $1,100 in health benefits.
I'm not including housework, because I don't think DH has provided value in this area above his basic responsibilities as a parent and spouse (doing half of the necessary work - so I'm talking about a very low bar). Quite frankly, I think DH has failed in this area at many points in time, and his failures offset his successes so far. In general, our house has been messier, not cleaner, since he started staying home, even at points where I was doing more housework than when we both worked (since I had more free time). However, any housework above 1/2 of the necessary minimum work to keep a household running and healthy is added value that a SAHP often provides. I don't count the housekeeper we are hiring as an expense of our SAHD structure, since we probably wouldn't have done that cleaning as a two-income family and would have instead just lived with the extra dirt. Rather, being able to afford a housekeeper is a luxury that DH is earning for us through the money he saves us in many other areas by staying home. Savings: $0 in housework (broadly defined)
Other ways many SAHPs add to the value of a home include: homeschooling (what is the cost of an equivalent private school? plus the priceless flexibility and direct control over the curriculum and schooling style), building a social circle (what is the value of a rich social life and supportive friends?), gardening (providing the value of the food or flowers grown minus expenses), raising animals for food (many SAHM friends have chickens for eggs and the occasional broiler), small income streams, time-consuming and money-saving shopping at garage sales and thrift stores, repairing old clothes rather than buying new, and generally taking on well over half of the adult responsibilities of the home such as bill-paying and noticing what needs to be done and organizing it (this is more work than you may think!).
So what is the total that my DH has provided for our family in the past 13 months as a SAHD? $32,303 of pure, untaxed value. At a 15% tax rate (about how much he paid in taxes as an employee), that is the equivelent value of $38,000 income in 13 months, or a salary of $35,076 a year. Note that this is just the monetary value - it doesn't capture priceless value, like my daughters spending over 40 hours per week more with a responsible, loving parent instead of in a day care.
Which brings me to my point: DH has been hearing a lot from me about my frustration with his failure in his housekeeping responsibilities as an adult and parent lately. And yes, there is a problem there that he needs to address. Then he gets to have the fun of getting me to address my own problems that have built up while covering for him :-) So basically, he still has a lot of work and room for improvement, and not all in the good way. But even with these shortcomings, he still has provided our family with the equivelent of a $35,076 salary plus other priceless value. And this is in his first year after a major career change, without much in the way of prior training. He never went to college to be a SAHP, nor did he do many of the chores and childcare activities I did growing up. He had just over one year of experience as a working dad - which is a lot like going into a field that normally requires a BA with a single year of college, and still earning a normal entry-level salary.
Wow. That's pretty cool. But what if it's not enough? What if he wants to give our family more value? What if he, well, wants a "raise" and a "promotion"?
A SAHP is his own boss, manager, business, etc. ("His" since this is geared towards DH, even though most SAHPs are mothers). There are many ways he can give his family more value. He won't be able to show the number on a paycheck, which is why maintaining a list and doing a calculation like this occasionally might be a good idea. Sure, having our kids and family happy and healthy is a great reward - but it's also a little intangible. Sometimes a tangible black-and-white number is motivating, even if it doesn't capture everything. To get a "raise", he just picks new activities that can provide more value to his family and adds them to his work week - whereas an employee has to first talk with their boss to get new responsibilities. Yet another intagible benefit of being a SAHP: The ability to manage one's workload flexibly, doing more when you have more energy and less when you are overwhelmed, rather than being constrained by the business' needs.
For example, doing an additional 3 hours of housework or family management work a week (above and beyond the half that falls under "basic parental responsibilities that you would do in an two-income family") is probably worth about, oh, $60 a week, or $260 a month. Instant raise of $3,120 a year, or 10%, in untaxed value. Your family will either feel the benefit as a little more time for your spouse (if it's work that she would have done), which can be spent instead doing more housework, relaxing, or doing something fun with you or the kids, or else will be felt as less mess and stress (if it's not something your spouse would have done).
And if he doesn't like doing housework? Well, maybe he can engage in higher quality childcare - taking the kids outside the house, doing pre-school like activities to help them learn and develop interests, reading up on parenting and applying what he learns. He could easily raise the value of his parenting to $15 or $20 an hour, with a huge boost in value provided to the family - and an increase in the priceless value of such wonderful modeling. He could get over a 60% raise, with enough interest and creativity! That's the equivelent of a $62,500 salary (pre-tax) - plus an amazing example of a parent for our kids. And a lot of fun, hopefully - nature walks, museums, parks, homemade toys and crafts, and more. To get more of a "raise", teach the kids skills like housework and gardening that provide additional value to the family and get raises for both.
And yes, if DH provided more value in other areas, I wouldn't be sore at all about taking on more than 1/2 of the housework. The issues we've been having aren't really about housework. They are about an uneven split of responsibilities as adults in our household. We don't need to "earn" the same amount of money as each other, but we should both be feeling the rewards of our hard work. I don't care if the "earnings" are split equally, but I would like the rewards split to be closer to equal.
Newspaper estimates of the value a SAHP provides top $100K. The reason it is so much higher than my estimates here is that they include the value provided just by being a responsible parent and spouse - one half of the necessary housework, including paying bills, managing housework duties, tracking them, laundry, cooking, and necessary cleaning and repairs. You can probably all see how this could easily cost $30,000 apiece if we tried to outsource all of this work at fair market value.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One more note, specifically to DH, and on something of a tangent:
Please, please, please tell me about your day. Let me know what challenges you faced, what annoyed you, and what accomplishments you've managed to fit in between the potty-training, snack-making, and endless small crisises. Tell me the cute things the girls did, and the surprisingly smart things they said (and talk about the temper tantrums, too). Even though I can't share in the family work during the day, I still want to be part of the team. Hearing about your day (and the girls' day) after being gone for eight hours reassures me that I still matter. I think telling me about your day also really helps you realize how important your work is, even if sometimes it seems to you like nothing happened or it was all really trivial stuff.
When you don't know what to say, just give me the chronological summary: what time they got up, what they ate for breakfast, what they did between breakfast and lunch, what they ate for lunch, when they napped, what they did between nap and dinner, when they last used the potty, and if they've eaten dinner yet. Then I can understand a bit more about how they and you are acting - I can tell if you are annoyed with me, or just tired because the girls have been throwing tantrums all day, and I know if they are dancing strangely because it's fun or because they really really need to go pee but don't realize it yet. I know I've asked this in person many times, but I also know you read this blog :-) Seriously, hearing about your day is the high point of my day. No exaggeration.
With love,
Your Wife
Who posts openly about our personal life in a public diary, and is grateful that you allow me to do so :-)
DH has been a SAHP for 13 months now. Calculations suggest that he's saved us $18,066 in childcare expenses so far (we've paid for part-time care for much of that time). I've also been out of the house more recently due to falling behind in work and a longer commute, resulting in him providing another $1,137 or so of care that is added value - totalling $19,203 of value for childcare alone.
On average, I'd say our grocery bill has dropped by about $100 / month and the quality of our meals has risen by $100 / month. So that is another $1,200 of savings and $1,200 of added value, totalling $2,400 for food.
We went without a car for 9 months, something we never could have done on two incomes. We saved $2,500 up front in repairs and another $400 / month or so in budgeted car expenses (maintenance, insurance, gas), so $9,600 for transportation savings without a car. We also were able to buy a cheap, unreliable car when we wanted a car after moving, rather than spending more for a reliable vehicle - but I have no estimate to calculate savings from. Savings: $9,600 in transportation costs (and then some).
We pay less for our benefits, since we no longer have the two-company's-benefit-plans penalty. On my old job, this would have been around $100 / month, and at Microsoft that would have been $75. Savings: $1,100 in health benefits.
I'm not including housework, because I don't think DH has provided value in this area above his basic responsibilities as a parent and spouse (doing half of the necessary work - so I'm talking about a very low bar). Quite frankly, I think DH has failed in this area at many points in time, and his failures offset his successes so far. In general, our house has been messier, not cleaner, since he started staying home, even at points where I was doing more housework than when we both worked (since I had more free time). However, any housework above 1/2 of the necessary minimum work to keep a household running and healthy is added value that a SAHP often provides. I don't count the housekeeper we are hiring as an expense of our SAHD structure, since we probably wouldn't have done that cleaning as a two-income family and would have instead just lived with the extra dirt. Rather, being able to afford a housekeeper is a luxury that DH is earning for us through the money he saves us in many other areas by staying home. Savings: $0 in housework (broadly defined)
Other ways many SAHPs add to the value of a home include: homeschooling (what is the cost of an equivalent private school? plus the priceless flexibility and direct control over the curriculum and schooling style), building a social circle (what is the value of a rich social life and supportive friends?), gardening (providing the value of the food or flowers grown minus expenses), raising animals for food (many SAHM friends have chickens for eggs and the occasional broiler), small income streams, time-consuming and money-saving shopping at garage sales and thrift stores, repairing old clothes rather than buying new, and generally taking on well over half of the adult responsibilities of the home such as bill-paying and noticing what needs to be done and organizing it (this is more work than you may think!).
So what is the total that my DH has provided for our family in the past 13 months as a SAHD? $32,303 of pure, untaxed value. At a 15% tax rate (about how much he paid in taxes as an employee), that is the equivelent value of $38,000 income in 13 months, or a salary of $35,076 a year. Note that this is just the monetary value - it doesn't capture priceless value, like my daughters spending over 40 hours per week more with a responsible, loving parent instead of in a day care.
Which brings me to my point: DH has been hearing a lot from me about my frustration with his failure in his housekeeping responsibilities as an adult and parent lately. And yes, there is a problem there that he needs to address. Then he gets to have the fun of getting me to address my own problems that have built up while covering for him :-) So basically, he still has a lot of work and room for improvement, and not all in the good way. But even with these shortcomings, he still has provided our family with the equivelent of a $35,076 salary plus other priceless value. And this is in his first year after a major career change, without much in the way of prior training. He never went to college to be a SAHP, nor did he do many of the chores and childcare activities I did growing up. He had just over one year of experience as a working dad - which is a lot like going into a field that normally requires a BA with a single year of college, and still earning a normal entry-level salary.
Wow. That's pretty cool. But what if it's not enough? What if he wants to give our family more value? What if he, well, wants a "raise" and a "promotion"?
A SAHP is his own boss, manager, business, etc. ("His" since this is geared towards DH, even though most SAHPs are mothers). There are many ways he can give his family more value. He won't be able to show the number on a paycheck, which is why maintaining a list and doing a calculation like this occasionally might be a good idea. Sure, having our kids and family happy and healthy is a great reward - but it's also a little intangible. Sometimes a tangible black-and-white number is motivating, even if it doesn't capture everything. To get a "raise", he just picks new activities that can provide more value to his family and adds them to his work week - whereas an employee has to first talk with their boss to get new responsibilities. Yet another intagible benefit of being a SAHP: The ability to manage one's workload flexibly, doing more when you have more energy and less when you are overwhelmed, rather than being constrained by the business' needs.
For example, doing an additional 3 hours of housework or family management work a week (above and beyond the half that falls under "basic parental responsibilities that you would do in an two-income family") is probably worth about, oh, $60 a week, or $260 a month. Instant raise of $3,120 a year, or 10%, in untaxed value. Your family will either feel the benefit as a little more time for your spouse (if it's work that she would have done), which can be spent instead doing more housework, relaxing, or doing something fun with you or the kids, or else will be felt as less mess and stress (if it's not something your spouse would have done).
And if he doesn't like doing housework? Well, maybe he can engage in higher quality childcare - taking the kids outside the house, doing pre-school like activities to help them learn and develop interests, reading up on parenting and applying what he learns. He could easily raise the value of his parenting to $15 or $20 an hour, with a huge boost in value provided to the family - and an increase in the priceless value of such wonderful modeling. He could get over a 60% raise, with enough interest and creativity! That's the equivelent of a $62,500 salary (pre-tax) - plus an amazing example of a parent for our kids. And a lot of fun, hopefully - nature walks, museums, parks, homemade toys and crafts, and more. To get more of a "raise", teach the kids skills like housework and gardening that provide additional value to the family and get raises for both.
And yes, if DH provided more value in other areas, I wouldn't be sore at all about taking on more than 1/2 of the housework. The issues we've been having aren't really about housework. They are about an uneven split of responsibilities as adults in our household. We don't need to "earn" the same amount of money as each other, but we should both be feeling the rewards of our hard work. I don't care if the "earnings" are split equally, but I would like the rewards split to be closer to equal.
Newspaper estimates of the value a SAHP provides top $100K. The reason it is so much higher than my estimates here is that they include the value provided just by being a responsible parent and spouse - one half of the necessary housework, including paying bills, managing housework duties, tracking them, laundry, cooking, and necessary cleaning and repairs. You can probably all see how this could easily cost $30,000 apiece if we tried to outsource all of this work at fair market value.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One more note, specifically to DH, and on something of a tangent:
Please, please, please tell me about your day. Let me know what challenges you faced, what annoyed you, and what accomplishments you've managed to fit in between the potty-training, snack-making, and endless small crisises. Tell me the cute things the girls did, and the surprisingly smart things they said (and talk about the temper tantrums, too). Even though I can't share in the family work during the day, I still want to be part of the team. Hearing about your day (and the girls' day) after being gone for eight hours reassures me that I still matter. I think telling me about your day also really helps you realize how important your work is, even if sometimes it seems to you like nothing happened or it was all really trivial stuff.
When you don't know what to say, just give me the chronological summary: what time they got up, what they ate for breakfast, what they did between breakfast and lunch, what they ate for lunch, when they napped, what they did between nap and dinner, when they last used the potty, and if they've eaten dinner yet. Then I can understand a bit more about how they and you are acting - I can tell if you are annoyed with me, or just tired because the girls have been throwing tantrums all day, and I know if they are dancing strangely because it's fun or because they really really need to go pee but don't realize it yet. I know I've asked this in person many times, but I also know you read this blog :-) Seriously, hearing about your day is the high point of my day. No exaggeration.
With love,
Your Wife
Who posts openly about our personal life in a public diary, and is grateful that you allow me to do so :-)
Monday, April 7, 2008
Thoughts on expanding Dave Ramsey's "Free Cars for Life" plan
Dave Ramsey's website has a neat video on getting "free cars" for life after six years of paying no more than you would pay anyways for the payment on a new car. Sadly, I can no longer find the video - so no link.
Basically, instead of buying that shiney new car you want, you buy something much cheaper for second hand with the cash you already have on hand. You may need to save a couple of months to get this cash. You drive that car for 11 months, and for those eleven months you put the amount of money you would have spent on the new car's payment into a money market account. Then you sell the old car for about what you paid for it, since old cars do not appreciate very fast, and use the money you saved to buy a better used vehicle. You drive that used vehicle for about five years, and continue banking the amount you would be spending on the payment for a new vehicle into the money market account. By the end of the sixth year, you should have enough money in the account that you can buy a new car, and the remainder of the money in the account will earn enough interest over the next six years or so (I don't remember) to cover the cost of another car.
The idea isn't perfect - if the market does bad for six years, you won't have your car money. On average, it should work out, though.
I like this idea. We don't care about nice cars in our family, since we know we could do without a car if we had to. However, we love our computers and tech equipment. We really want to get fresh equipment, but once we "stock up" we could try doing this with computers, LCDs, printers, etc. Honestly, this idea could work with anything you could do with less of for a while. Save the difference somewhere where it gains interest, live "like a refugee" for a while, then draw from the earnings to live like a king.
Basically, instead of buying that shiney new car you want, you buy something much cheaper for second hand with the cash you already have on hand. You may need to save a couple of months to get this cash. You drive that car for 11 months, and for those eleven months you put the amount of money you would have spent on the new car's payment into a money market account. Then you sell the old car for about what you paid for it, since old cars do not appreciate very fast, and use the money you saved to buy a better used vehicle. You drive that used vehicle for about five years, and continue banking the amount you would be spending on the payment for a new vehicle into the money market account. By the end of the sixth year, you should have enough money in the account that you can buy a new car, and the remainder of the money in the account will earn enough interest over the next six years or so (I don't remember) to cover the cost of another car.
The idea isn't perfect - if the market does bad for six years, you won't have your car money. On average, it should work out, though.
I like this idea. We don't care about nice cars in our family, since we know we could do without a car if we had to. However, we love our computers and tech equipment. We really want to get fresh equipment, but once we "stock up" we could try doing this with computers, LCDs, printers, etc. Honestly, this idea could work with anything you could do with less of for a while. Save the difference somewhere where it gains interest, live "like a refugee" for a while, then draw from the earnings to live like a king.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
